Luxury To Be In Pain
by ArgentOir
Summary: As the James family moves into Mystic Falls, tragedy strikes, leaving Ginnavia without parents, a sister in a coma, and a gift she has to learn to control by herself. Will she push away everyone that tries to help her, or will she finally let someone into her life? Can she rely on Damon, as everyone seems to walk away, and keep her secret from those she finally trust?
1. Wickery Bridge And The Raven

**A/N: Okay, this is my first fanfic on this profile and I wanted to just make my own TVD Damon/OC. Soooo… here it goes. **

**Anyways, I don't own The Vampire Diaries just because Joshua Butler is being selfish right now, keeping both Salvatore brothers to himself, but I do 'own' my personal characters and such.**

**U g h. Sorry for the long intro ooops. Enjoy!**

Time was like the ocean; every year was a new wave, and with this wave there'd wash up a new school, a new house, new town. Ginnavia Lux James ran her fingers through her dark hair exasperatingly and started to unpack. Her small, slim hands moved with agility and rash anger. It wasn't the first time that her family had suddenly uprooted, and they never told her why or where they were going. Turned out to be the small town of Mystic Falls, Virginia.

The fifteen-year-old already didn't like the place.

Sneaking quietly down the stairs down to the kitchen, she looked up at the high ceiling, and noticed the lack of color. Their last house had had a different color for every room, bright flashes of marigold, and more subdued glimpses of violet. Her old room had been a sky blue, covered with band and book posters. This one was white, beige, and the occasional pale yellow. The whole house screamed 'not yours!'

Ginnavia sighed, grabbed a pear and walked back upstairs to lie on her bed and wallow in self-pity for— well, the next ten minutes sounded sufficient. Why couldn't she have stayed back in Oregon? And why the sudden change from west coast to almost east coast? Her mind was too foggy and she sat up to finish her last couple of boxes, pear forgotten on the lamp side table, and spotted a black raven perched on her windowsill.

It cawed obnoxiously, and flew away as she ran forward and tsked at it. Her room was the only room with a small balcony outside, and was at the back of the house, very end of the hallway. She guessed it was kind of like an apology from her parents for uprooting her from her oldest home. Next to her room was where her younger sister, Lilith, was; and downstairs, down the other hallway was her parents' room.

Just as Ginnavia was pushing into place her last book from her boxes, _The Works of Edgar Allan Poe_, a shiver made its way down her back, making her shiver. She was used to this by now. Every so often, she would feel this twitch, a shiver run along one of her arms, causing it to jerk or shake uncontrollably down her spine. Her heartbeat slowed, and her left eye twitched for a few more moments before she was finished. She never told her parents about her shaking spells. If she was going to deal with something, she was going to do it by herself and in her own way.

She turned, feeling a sensation not like the one that lead to the shaking, but as if someone was watching her. At her windowsill was the same bird. She walked towards it, flailing her arms in an attempt to shoo it away, but it was adamant to stay this time.

"Go!" She whisper-shouted. "I might just throw this pear at you," she said, threateningly, raising said pear up to aim. "I'm warning you, I will."

The raven seemed to guffaw at her comment and she narrowed her eyes. She sarcastically laughed, this reminded her, ironically of one of the poems by Edgar Allan Poe in the book she had just put away. She lifted her tan and slender arm and chucked the fruit at the raven, knocking it backwards and off the balcony. She shuddered, just imagining what Lilith would say to her if she saw what she had done. She would probably rush over and smack her legs in that childish way and reprimand her for hurting such a 'poor' creature.

"Ginny!" Screamed Lilith. She stalked towards her older sister on tiny legs and whacked her knee. She called her Ginny because Ginnavia was apparently too hard for her or perhaps because she just didn't like calling her by her full name. Probably the latter. "Mom and dad are ready to go out to dinner, so hurry your butt up." She giggled and slipped away as Ginny mockingly swiped at her.

"Okay, okay. Tell them I'm coming soon, yeah?" Ginny tilted her head, causing her curls to cascade down her shoulder as Lilith jumped up and down and cart wheeled out of the room. It was the whirling girl's birthday after all, May 23. Ever since joining gymnastics last year, she had been doing summersaults and hand springs everywhere. Kickbacks on the couch, one-handed cart wheels out the door. Ginny did admit that the little girl had a knack for gymnastics.

The eldest sister rushed to her black wood dresser that Lilith hated but she loved, and wrenched out a pink tank top and jeans. She stumbled slightly as she tugged the right sock over her foot and then the left, giddily pulling on a pair of Converse. They were going out of Mystic Falls tonight to go to a quaint and picturesque restaurant. Ginny had pointed it out on the drive in two days ago, and her mom, as usual, gushed about how perfect it was. Delilah James saw the silver lining in every dark cloud, or hurricane as it had more appropriately been the last couple weeks of moving.

She hopped down the stairs, her pounding footsteps muffled by the luscious carpet. Turning, she hauled herself around the pole at the bottom, and smiled as wide as her always oddly petite mouth would let her, baring her sharp canine teeth. She frowned quickly, hearing the tail end of her parents' conversation.

"—But we haven't actually _seen _any signs from her, have we?" Delilah said with tight lips and flushed cheeks. "Maybe she can live a normal life, we can keep her! We'll take care of her, we don't have to give her up to the—"

"Shh!" Walter curtly interrupted her, "We shan't say their name aloud. Who knows who's listening? But my dear, I'm afraid we can't hold on to her. We're already in hot waters with them, and this is our way out of our life of running." Delilah sighed restlessly, and nodded slightly.

"We'll do what we have to do to protect Lilith and ourselves."

_What did they mean? Protect them from what? From who?_

Ginny made her shoulders relax and whirled over, as if she had only come down the stairs. She grinned and grabbed her varsity jacket and phone before running out to Lilith. She yelled over her shoulder for her parents to hurry on up, _please._

_I'll ask them after we get home. I want Lilith to be happy, _Ginny thought as she slammed her car door and they sped away from the quickly receding wood and brick house.

* * *

The James family was just crossing Whickory Bridge, almost out of Mystic Falls and close to the restaurant when a car came speeding by, illuminating a vaguely human shape on the road. It came out of no where, a phantom ghost in the low and dense fog. Walter tried to swerve away, but the bridge was slippery due to the recent rain shower and they sled. He leaned forward, closer to the windshield as though it would help him see better and tightened his grip on the steering wheel making his knuckles white. He squinted and tried to take back control of the spinning vehicle. Delilah looked back at her children and gave them a reassuring hard look and determined smile. But that didn't stop her face from blanching from her usual tan to a deadly pale color and her stomach from flipping. She ran a hand through her wild curls that came from Grandma Ana Lopez. Ginny readjusted her seat belt and set a undeterred look on her heart shaped face, smoothing her less wild curls down and tucking them behind her ears, out of view. She grabbed Lilith's hand, squeezing tight.

Lilith did what anybody else would have done. _Lilith screamed._

Walter gripped the wheel tighter, but the car was most definitely uncontrollable and it spun too fast to take charge of. Ginny screamed at her father to not lean forward. Too late. She looked at the other car, it was coming fast. Too fast. No no no no. This wasn't going to happen. They weren't going to crash. They weren't going to fall off the bridge or hit the man in the middle of the road. Her dad wasn't going to crash through the glass on the front of the car. Her mom wasn't going to die and Lilith wouldn't die. Ginny wouldn't die. The other car would be okay. The parents of a little girl in the backseat wouldn't leave her.

Ginny could just watch as everything seemed to happen in a matter of seconds until they flew to the very edge of the bridge. Ginny sighed in relief. They were going to be okay. Nothing was going to happen. That was until the other car smashed into the person in the road and barreled forward at them, leaving no cars on the road. Both were violently plunged into the water.

Quickly, Ginny unbuckled herself, her hands struggling to open the door, and she unbuckled an unconscious Lilith. She wrapped her arms around her sister and pushed her strong legs as hard as she could. She was then even more grateful for the years of swim team and water polo then before. Bubbles escaped from her lips as she desperately tried to reach air. As her head broke the water into the air, she took big gulps of air, her hair plastered to her face, and looked at her sister, bringing her above water with a grunt and her head went under as Lilith's face went up to the night of twinkling stars. Lilith was heavier then usual, and she struggled to drag her along to the bank.

As she scrambled up and transported the limp figure in her arms from the murky waters to muddy shore, she took shuddering gulps of oxygen into her exploding lungs. She whipped her head to the water, looking for her parents. Nothing but silence and bubbles from the sinking vehicles met her. Ginny turned back to her sister, briskly brushing away any signs of tears as she ignored her throbbing temple and checked for a pulse. She finally found one after a few frantic moments, but it was very distant and faint. Recollecting her memories from her First Aid and CPR classes, she continued to try and help Lilith with a renewed vigor.

"Come on, Lily!" She yelled acerbically at the little figure before her. _"You're not leaving me yet!" _She pressed down on to the girl's chest and let a weary smile pass over her soft features as Lily coughed again, drawing water out of her lungs. "You're almost there, hold on."

A hiss emanated from behind Ginny, followed by a splash and then the noise of trenching boots on ground. A boy that looked only a few years older than her climbed up with an unconscious girl on his shoulder. She looked to be my age. We locked eyes as he placed the girl down next to Lilith and then they both snapped their attention on their respective unconscious human. As quickly as he had appeared, the mystery boy was gone and she could already hear the wails of an ambulance and possible police cars on their way.

* * *

Ginny's shadow was cast on the ground as someone in the blur of people passing by her wrapped a shock blanket or whatever it's called around her shoulders. She watched with wide eyes of disbelief as her sister was driven away to the ER and the other girl was being looked at near the second ambulance. Ginny leaned back and rested her shoulders against the side of a police car as Sheriff Forbes took notes for a full scale report she was going to type up at home and sighed. Neither parents of either girls had survived. Tears started to fog her vision and Ginny turned to the sky in hope her tears would subside.

She rested there and prayed with a vehemence that she'd never matched before. _Please let Lily be okay, _she fervently pressed. _I don't want to lose her too._

The other girl's name was Elena Gilbert. Ginny had tried to introduce herself to her, but she had barely got out the beginning of, "Hello, my name is—" before she had succumbed to the sobs that started to rack her body. Both girls had looked at the other in that moment. One with straight hair the other with curly, one with an almost dead sister the other with a little brother at home waiting for his parents that would never come. They had understood each other perfectly. So as one cried, the other flung her arms around Ginny and they sank to the ground, pulled down by their own emotions and clung to each other's shirts for support and cried.

* * *

**A/N: Okay, this was the depressing chapter though there might be a few sad parts in here later too. Please review because that's how I know I'm actually doing something right. Give me hints or ideas of where you want this story to go, though I already have a vague idea and some scenes already planned out. Thanks and I hope you liked this and enjoy the rest of my story and continue reading.**

**X**


	2. You'll Be Okay One Day

**A/N: Enjoy! Please review. And I made up the name Ginnavia, and I own the name. Thank you. So glad that if you're reading this you thought the last chapter was great, were bored, but either way thanks or reading. You'll see Elena and Ginnavia today and don't worry after this chapter we will be going to season uno.**

**I do not, under any circumstances, own TVD. But I do own my characters. Yay!**

* * *

"Damon, stop it!" Stefan hissed, his face contorting and grey veins popping into view on his darkening face and reddening eyes. "I don't want you to hurt her."

They stood in the boarding house's front yard, a smashed window and scattered glass behind them, evidence of an already sour conversation earlier. The moon shone sweetly down on the bitter situation. Brothers pushed apart by Miss Pierce. They both glared at the other, faces pale and a pair of cold bright blue eyes meeting those of a warm forest green orbs.

"You really aren't very bright, are you brother?" Damon chided icily. He smirked at Stefan, making him growl once more. The eldest tutted, waving his finger in front of Stefan's face causing him to get angrier. This appeared to amuse him. "You see, if you were to reason with me with your 'goody two shoes speech'- and believe me, I stopped caring and listening a long time ago- I could easily become bored. Now both you and I know how I don't do bored." Stefan was about to speak when Damon barreled on, pretending to be oblivious to his brother's attempt to rebuke him. "Anyways, it's been way too long since I've seen Katherine's face thanks to my _brother,"_ he spat out the last word as if it were venomous. "But, eh- Elena's the next best thing."

Damon was gone with a blur of shadows, leaving Stefan running his hands through his hair nervously. What was he going to do? How could he stop Damon while being on the animal diet that naturally made him weak? He didn't know the answers to these questions but he knew what he had to do now. He needed to get to the Katherine look alike before Damon did, or before he hurt her.

* * *

As the car came into view, Damon ran along swiftly, shroud in shadows. He looked into the back seat to find an upset looking girl. His breathing hitched and he came a little closer. He knew Elena looked like Katherine, but this was uncanny. This _was _Katherine in every way. He just had to talk to her, to see if she knew anything about his Miss Pierce. But then again, she probably didn't know about any of this because of Stefan's anxiety that she would see Damon moving at vampire speed. So he could simply kill her, without having many consequences.

He rushed to the middle of the road, bracing himself for impact to stop the car. Through his dazed thoughts, he hadn't seen the opposite oncoming car until it had already skidded to the side of Wickery Bridge. The Gilbert's car hit him, sending it falling off the edge with a dizzying spin, landing with a large splash. Something in the distance caught Damon's attention, someone was out there. He turned away, shrugging, and dashed away with an arrogant smirk that seemed to be permanently etched on to his face.

So kill her it was.

As Stefan neared the scene, he pushed a little further before diving in and taking out Elena. He fumbled with the seat belt before letting a few precious bubbles rise to the surface and ripped apart her safety harness. It wasn't her fault she looked like her, she didn't deserve to die. Something that Damon was apparently having a hard time figuring out. He pulled her body on to the bank, and locked eyes with the girl already there. She was drenched, her clothes sticking to her curvy form. Her curls were stuck to her, and her hands were shaking. She looked the same age as Elena, yet she was maybe five foot one to two. He wanted to make her forget about him, but seeing as he had already used most of his limited energy running over and bringing up the doppelganger, he couldn't. The girl's inquisitive eyes were a honey brown, shining with unshed tears, rimmed in black. They were pretty against her tan skin and almost black russet and brown colored hair. He turned away, and rushed off with his vampiresque speed. He couldn't look at the girl's sorrowful face anymore. It felt as if it actually was himself that had lost half of his family. But, then again, he had already lost everyone in his family. His mind flashed to Damon before he slowly shook his head as he rushed out of sight from the police and paramedics. He'd lost everyone in his family.

* * *

"Miss, the doctors are doing their best to save your sister. But does she have any allergies to medicine?" The nurse probed. The timid and soaked Ginnavia shivered, casting her worried glance to her sister's hospital room where she was hooked up to beeping and blinking machines that she would have normally been enthralled by, but under such circumstances didn't give them a second thought besides, _that's what's keeping Lily alive. _She gave the nurse, Betty Lisa as she read the name tag, a weary shake of her head that was followed by another tremor down her arm. Ginny tried to duck away but the lady looked down at her and grabbed her arm tight. "Where do you think you're running off to?"

Eyes widening, Ginnavia rushed to the hall across from them, reading the useful signs that pointed to the closest bathroom. As she flung herself in, she scampered to the sink and seized the sides so strongly her knuckles turned white. Her left eye started to twitch and it seemed it was infectious because it slowly spread down her arm. Her limbs started to shake. A searing pain started in her chest that felt not unlike when she had panic attacks. It got harder for her to breathe, and she felt lighter. Everything in the room started to sway, and Ginny reminded herself that _she_ was the one tilting. Her arms gave out and she sank to the ground. She was pathetic, and she scolded herself for being so weak. Spontaneously, a sharp pain ripped through her chest. She squirmed under the intensity of sword of torture, bending at it's will. Finally, her rapid breathing slowed but she could hear this humming. She turned to the still running water from faucet and tried to turn it off but she was too weak. She fixated on it, and with a swoosh of air, the knob was shut. She screwed up her eyes and decided to ignore it.

Just as everything was dimming and her eyes seemed to be shutting of their own accord, she heard a yelling voice outside, at the nurse Betty Lisa's desk. The person seemed not only irritated or aggravated, but furious. She heard a slam of a palm against a desk that helped the limp girl keep her exhausted eyes open. A doctor passed by the bathroom door, and Ginny prayed they would just pass. She could already feel the imaginary embarrassment if someone saw her in such a fetal position. Her fingers shook as she heard the doctor ask the enraged women at the desk what was wrong. She heard a yelling match between nurse and angered lady, too groggy to hear much besides her name mentioned through out the heated argument about if the lady could see Ginny. The doctor's soft and calming voice interrupted them and he sighed dejectedly, he told the nurse to get the girl. She caught the nurse's apprehensive last comment .

"I thought she was around here," she said disbelieving, followed by a "She couldn't have gotten that far." The lady outside scoffed. She sounded younger. She mumbled something under her breath that sounded a heck of a lot like, "This is why I don't want her to be in the foster care by the government."

As the nurse searched for Ginny and the doctor politely excused himself from them, the girl felt some of her strength come back. She pushed herself up into a sitting position, leaning against the wall with one leg tucked into the other. Her head throbbed and her ribs hurt. She reached back, only to find that her shock blanket must have fallen off as she had run away from the wicked nurse of the west. She examined her arm to find it bruising already, from both the nurse and the... wreck. Her neck was sore, her throat was raw from spitting out and choking on the water, and she was cold. She examined her clothes. They were the same drenched clothes she'd been wearing for the last couple hours. She had adamantly refused to have someone look after her while they could be saving someone. Someone like her sister.

"Ah, I see that kids' hiding spots from people haven't changed much," kindly smiled a lady that looked about in her twenties with wavy golden blonde hair. Her eyes were a tender hazel and she looked about five six. "How are you doing?" Realization dawned on her and she quickly changed her wording. "I mean, how are you holding up?"

"Okay," Ginny's voice didn't sound like hers. It sounded quieter, hoarse. She cleared her throat and tried again. "I'm okay." She smiled as if that would help hide the red eyes and nose, the slumped shoulders and twisted corners of her mouth. The squinted eyes and fidgeting hands. Her hollow expression.

"I'm Jenna Sommers," Jenna said quietly. Something about the girl's face reminded her of a deer in the headlights, or a spooked horse. "I'm Elena Gilbert's aunt." When she was only met with a confused glance she back tracked. "How long have you been in Mystic Falls? It's a pretty small town. I'm sure I would have seen you by now."

"We-" Ginny stopped herself and got used to the phrase 'I' in her head. "-I have been here for a little less than a week." She smiled that small smile that belonged just to her. She liked to think of herself as strong yet sometimes she was delicate. Could be smashed into pieces. Today had been one of those times. And in the wreck she had been shattered.

"Oh, what's your name, honey?" Miss Sommers spoke tenderly. Almost cautiously. Her pale hands lay neatly in her lap as she sat down next to Ginnavia, slouching in the same way. Ginny looked at her and felt ashamed that she had been so self absorbed as to not notice the red tint to Jenna's face, the look of loss. She knew that look. It had been staring at her in the mirror not twenty minutes ago.

"Ginnavia James," She spoke. "But you can call me-" A war seemed to be brought into her brain. Should she be called Ginny? After this night, was she still a girl named Ginny? Her sister had first called her that. And in that moment she understood that she _only _wanted her sister to call her that. It was between the two of them; a memory just for them. It was special.

"Call you what?" Jenna prompted as Ginnavia seemed to have been lost in thought. She reached her hand out to rest it reassuringly on the younger girl's shoulder. The said girl looked up with her honey gaze that trapped you, keeping you from looking anywhere else that were rimmed oily and framed by long, dark lashes.

"Call me Lux," She finally spoke. "It's my middle name." Ginnavia looked up at Jenna with a sort of sympathy and understanding that took the college girl by surprise. "But how are you holding up? I assume you knew the others in the crash."

Jenna frowned shyly. This girl was very perceptive. "Okay," She said. Immediately she realized it was what Lux had said too. And she understood that neither of them had meant it. "It was my sister and her husband. And Elena, yeah? She was the one at the- um, scene." She finished lamely. To her second surprise from Lux or Ginny in the same amount of minutes, the girl hugged Jenna. Jenna found herself hugging her back and crying. Something about the small girl seemed to put her at ease, and she was able to trust her with having just meeting her. Lux looked up and said as soft as a feather, "They're okay up there. You'll be okay here too, one day. You've got much more to look forward to."

Jenna pulled back and whispered to Lux, "Hey, since you seem to help me so much, let's introduce you properly to Elena." She grabbed the younger girl's shaking hand in a gentle hold and coaxed her up. "Come on, I've got you," she said as she supported the short figure as she tripped on her unsteady legs.

"Is she okay?" This made Jenna look at her with knowing eyes. She leaned down and looked into Lux's eyes. "Lilith is in a coma. They say she might not make it out. But she's going to be okay. You're going to be okay one day too."

"Okay."

* * *

The following months of school went by without much eventfulness. Lux had been staying at the Gilbert house with Jeremy and Elena as well as Jenna while she waited for the government to figure out who she was going to stay permanently with, seeing as her parents had not stated in their will whose care she would be put into of they were to die. They left her all of their money, and she spent the rest of her spring school year at Mystic Falls never really socializing with other sixteen-year-olds and online learning, leaving her ample amount of time to bond with Elena over movies, exercise, and reading or writing. She knew it wasn't the right time to be dropped into a new school, and especially high school. She would start the next school year where ever her new guardian lived. She sighed when she thought about it. Her sister was still in a coma at the hospital, she couldn't leave her. And Jenna, Elena, Jeremy, and the seemingly ever present Bonnie were part of her family now.

The day of her parents' funeral, she had worn her best black dress and dressed up just for Delilah, knowing she had always wanted her to be wear more fashionable clothes than jeans, cardigans, band tees, and the occasional skater skirt. She had sat at their grave, knowing that they should have been buried back in Oregon, knowing that this town that they didn't belong to had claimed their lives. Lux set down red roses, her mother's favorite and yellow tulips for her father. The sobs had racked her body, and she hadn't left until Elena had came to pick her up at nine o'clock that night, the whole time a crow had sat on top of the tombstone. She had simply sat there. She had prayed, and then she had laid there reciting The Raven by Edgar Allan Poe; imagining them next to her, laughing and playing poker, cashing in their candies.

And that night, when she came home, Jenna had been crying at the table, clutching a letter to her chest. Immediately, Lux came over, her own grief stowed away as she always did with all of her emotions. Except on those times where she felt safe. She felt safe here. "What's wrong, Jenna?"

"Not what's wrong," Jenna smiled through her tears. They were tears of happiness. "Look for yourself."

The letter was addressed to Jenna, and Lux's quick reading capabilities came in handy. The letter was from the judge that was in charge of her own case of guardianship. She frowned quizzically at Jenna before scanning through the rest of the letter. By the end, she was almost in tears herself. She ran at Jenna and gave her one of her famous bone crushing hugs. "So I guess you'll be staying in Mystic Falls under my care for a little longer than you thought you were going to," Jenna joked.

Lux turned to the smiling Elena and Jeremy and squished them both. "Did you guys know too?" She asked. They nodded and she went to bed that night, ready for summer to begin and end, ecstatic for her new high school and socializing time. She sat down to her room, it was a blue color. It had shelves for all her books and a seating edge window like in Elena's room. She didn't keep a diary but she wrote stories, about myths and scifi topics, and short stories that were sometimes historical. Reading the book _Looking For Alaska_ for the hundredth time, she finally turned off her lights and went to bed with a smile on her face, book clutched in hand, and black raven staring at her from the window.

* * *

**A/N: Okay was that good? Well 1x1 next and I will probably update quicker because it's hardcore snowing over where I live. Please review, I might not update as fast if I get no reviews, but thank for the fave and follows! Til next time.**

**TTFN**

**Savannah**


	3. Pilot- Part 1

**A/N: Thank you to mrsdansmith and saddenshi, for the lovely review and follows. And thank you to everyone else that has favorited or followed this story. When I saw them, I was so giddy- for lack of a better term. Thank you again, and I do not own TVD or it's characters. I only own my own events and characters, and even then they seem to do whatever the hell they want.**

* * *

Lux was awoken by the shuddering of her bed beneath her. She opened her eyes a slit, having actually been awake since five in the morning. She was an early bird and a night owl, which did nothing good to her on a school night. Looking through the cracks in her eyelids, she could see a happy Elena sitting next to her on her blue patterned bed covers. She lifted her head groggily and probed around her bed for her book.

"So how long have you been up?" Elena asked, trying to sound casual. Lux rolled her eyes playfully, she knew Elena was worried she was having a hard time with her panic attacks.

"Only five," she replied sweetly. Elena smiled, seeming to have been reassured. "But to be fair, I also stayed up until one in the morning." Elena's smile was replaced by a pensive look. "And yes, before you ask, I'm okay." The smaller girl rolled her eyes again, something she'd been doing a lot of around Elena when she was being protective or motherly.

"So what are you reading now?" Elena murmured as she lay on the bed next to Lux. She started fiddling with the ends of the girl's curls. The two had become each other's sisters and best friends over summer, so close that usually where you found Lux, Elena would be right next to her.

"Umm," Lux said, running over her list of recently read books. "Right now I'm reading _Pride and Prejudice_ for the third time. But after this I think I'm going to read _Sabriel_." She sauntered to her dresser, pulling out a pair of cable knit navy socks and a daisy skirt. Lux pulled them on, then rummaged around until she found her white strapless top. She fidgeted around with her shirt, trying to tuck it in before she grew too impatient and told herself she'd do it later. Turning to Elena, she raised her eyebrows, (mainly because she couldn't raise just one) silently asking her if she looked okay. Today was her first day at Mystic Falls High after all. Elena smiled genuinely and applauded the girl on her choices. Elena had noticed how much care Lux had been showing in her clothes recently, and had been subject to her questions of how things looked on her. She didn't mind helping Lux. Far from it, she was happy to help, and she was even more ecstatic that Lux seemed to be slowly showing more feelings.

"I know just the shoes to go with this," muttered Lux as she rummaged through her closet. "Ah, here you are," she said triumphantly, holding up her pair of Jeffrey Campbell Zomg Caps. Slipping them on and tightening the laces extra because of her slender and small feet, Lux strode out of her room, beaconing for Elena to follow with her usual 'go big or go home' attitude.

As both girls swept down the stairs, they heard Jenna scrambling about the kitchen. They smiled at each other before descending the last steps and heading around to face their guardian. Walking in, Lux grabbed her cardigan off the table. looking at Elena's outfit, she nodded. They both looked ready, undaunted, for another year. One of fake answers of okay and bogus smiles. But hey, the world wasn't perfect and the people within it definitely weren't.

"Toast!" Jenna frantically said, her brain somewhere else. "I can make toast!" Elena laughed and Lux just smiled, amused.

"It's all about the coffee, Aunt Jenna," Elena playfully mumbled. Lux made a disgruntled noise in the back of her throat, and shook her head vigorously. "Nope, tea for me. And also the crepes I made for everyone last night!" Lux called out, hoping Jeremy would hear her. Sure enough, he came down right after and as Lux pulled out the plate of berry crepes, Jeremy took two and sat down to eat.

"A simple thank you would be nice," she reprimanded him. She was met with a rueful smile and mumbled thank you from Jer. Glad she had gotten a positive reaction out of Jeremy, she tried to whistle but only came up with air and spit. "Oops." She apologetically smiled. The other three in the room laughed at her, making her cheeks turn pink.

"Is there any coffee?" Jeremy asked, and then seeing there was, took Elena's. She paused mid bite of crepe and jokingly glared at him. Jeremy just shot her an unamused glare and sat down sipping his coffee. It had been this way ever since he had started to use drugs. Lux had told him how she felt about drugs and such. She wouldn't stand to have smoke or the other substances around her and didn't want him to ruin his life, but she also respected that he was in charge of his own choices and had rights.

"Your first day of school and I'm totally unprepared," Jenna sighed. "Lunch money?" She offered. Lux said a polite no thank you, Elena shook her head, but Jeremy roughly grabbed it. "What else? A number two pencil? What am I missing?" She was speaking mainly to herself by the end.

"Don't you have a big presentation today?" Elena asked. Jenna's face was first confused then horrified.

"I'm meeting with my thesis advisor at... now." She said, checking on her watch. "Crap!" She yelled, bustling around, grabbing books and her coat. Her hair was down today, and she had put on minimal make up.

"Then go," Elena said with a smile. "We'll be fine." Jenna smiled gratefully at Elena before looking at Lux expectantly. The girl knew she was asking if she would be okay but she brushed it off and replied, " Don't worry ma'am. I'll take care of her, it is my duty after all. Being Batman and all that," she said while tossing her hair over her shoulder dramatically.

"Oh shut up," Jeremy lovingly chided. "What can I say, Robin? I'm just the most responsible," Lux play-whispered to Jeremy. That made him shut up long enough for Elena and Lux to walk almost out the door.

He yelled out to her, "WAIT! Why am I the side kick?!" As she poked her tongue out at him and waved good bye. She closed the door behind her as she sprang to Bonnie's awaiting carriage for Cinderella, or Lux I guess.

* * *

"So Grams is telling me I'm psychic. Our ancestors were from Salem, witches and all that, I know, crazy," Bonnie said rolling her eyes as she drove to Mystic Falls High. "But she's going on and on about it, and I'm like, put this woman in a home already!" Lux laughed at this before realizing Elena wasn't quite with them at the moment. "But then I started thinking, I predicted Obama and I predicted Heath Ledger, and I still think Florida will break off and turn into little resort islands. . .Elena! Back in the car." Bonnie chided.

"I did it again, didn't I? I-I'm sorry, Bonnie. You were telling me that-" Elena prompted, trying to pay more attention. She ruffled her hair, looking back at Lux quickly to find her sitting rigidly in the back seat of the car. That wasn't her normal sitting position, what was she afraid of? Then it hit her like a ton of bricks. How could she forget? The car crash.

"That I'm psychic now," finished Bonnie lamely. Lux tried to shake out her tense shoulders and replied to Bonnie. "You know, it would be pretty _freaking_ fantabulous to have a psychic friend. If you are, you promise to tell me if a really hot guy is coming along, right? Cuz every time one seems to come by I'm in the weirdest position or next to _you_ losers." Elena mock slapped Lux on the arm while Bonnie laughed.

"Right then," Elena started. "Predict something. About me." She winked at Lux, and the girl on the backseat simply smiled at her.

Bonnie smiled at the two and answered, "I see..." In a joking tone before a crow slapped against the car. Then another. Elena tensed as the car slid to the side of the road and Lux let out a muffled scream.

"What was that?! Oh, my god! Elena, are you ok?" Bonnie asked frantically, retracting the arm that she had flung against Elena as if it would keep her safe. Bonnie turned to Lux, "Are you okay Lux? Oh gosh..."

"It's okay." Elena said shakily, breathing out a breath that she hadn't realized she had been holding. "I'm fine." She repeated in response to Bonnie's disbelieving face.

"It was like a bird or something. It came out of nowhere," Bonnie said, sounding as if she was trying to reassure them that it wasn't her fault. Elena soothed Bonnie and turned back to Lux who was breathing hard. Her heartbeat raced and her hands began to shake ever so slightly. There was a sudden pain, a pressure on her heart. Everything seemed too close.

She was choking.

"Everything's too close!" Lux screamed. She rolled down the window and tugged at her shirt's collar and leaned out the window to ease the sense of clausterphobia. Dimly, she was aware of someone opening their car door and the sound of them calling her name. They opened Lux's door and Lux flung herself from the car to the side walk. "Lily," she whimpered. "I-I can't breathe. Elena?" she was met with the pair of concerned, warm brown eyes that belonged to Elena Gilbert. "Elena!" Lux strangled out. "H-help my b-breathe. Please!" Lux put her hands on either side of head, hoping it would draw out the pressure from her ribs and the pounding in her head. It was applying pressure to her heart. And it was crushing her. The air around her started to swirl, whipping Elena and Lux's hair.

Elena coaxed the gasping girl into the car and held her in the back seat, rocking her quietly to try and calm her. After a few minutes, Lux calmed down while Bonnie profusely apologized to her. She said it was okay, that she was okay now. A lie.

"You know what?" Bonnie said, optimism now in her voice. "I predict this year is going to be kick ass. And I predict all the sad and dark times are over and you are going to be beyond happy." Bonnie said to Elena. She smiled sadly at Lux and said, "You'll meet someone special and have the best year ever."

"The one question is," Lux began, mischief in her voice. "Will he be sexy?" The tension flew out the window and they laughed. It felt good to laugh. As they passed the road with little shops, Bonnie couldn't help but get a weird vibe from the crow they passed. It felt like- well, death. Lux could feel it too.

* * *

"Major lack of male real estate. Look at the shower curtain on Kelly Beech. She looks like a hot — can I still say 'tranny mess'?" Bonnie asked with a sigh as all the boys walking around her in Mystic Falls halls didn't catch her eye. Her and Elena were walking to their lockers, and then they were going to go to the office to wait for Lux while she was getting her schedules and locker combinations. Elena looked at her and replied with a, "No, that's over."

Bonnie sighed with a shrug. "Ahh, find a man, coin a phrase. It's a busy year." She smiled at Elena as they put away their books and jackets. Bonnie pauses and looks over at Elena who is waving at Matt from across the hallway. Matt ignored her even though he knew they had seen him, shut his locker and walked away.

"He hates me." Elena complained. Ever since they'd decided to be just friends and nothing more, Matt had been very distant and moody. Elena shut her locker and turned to Bonnie.

"That's not hate. That's 'you dumped me, but I'm too cool to show it, but secretly I'm listening to Air Supply's greatest hits.'" Bonnie replied soothingly. Matt was pining after Elena, did she not see that? Their conversation was interrupted when a certain skinny and blonde Caroline Forbes walked up in a preppy way, sashaying back and forth. She smiled sadly at Elena before speaking.

"Elena. Oh, my God." Caroline breathed as she drew Elena in for a short hug. "How are you? Oh, it's so good to see you." Caroline withdrew and then turned to Bonnie before waiting for Elena to actually reply. "How is she? Is she good?" She asked Bonnie, as if the other girl wasn't even there.

Elena sucked in a deep breath and breathed out. "Caroline, I'm right here. And I'm fine. Thank you." She said with an artificial smile on her face. She needed to get through the day, but they way things were going right now, it'd be hard.

"Really?" Asked a disbelieving Caroline. She was met with a hard, "Yes. I'm much better." From Elena. There was a pause before Caroline hugged Elena again and said, "Oh, you poor thing." Caroline broke away from the parent less girl when she heard poorly stifled laughter coming from behind her. Caroline whirled around to face nobody her own height. Lux was smaller and so Caroline mistook her for a freshmen. "I know you're a new freshmen, and don't know what's going on- but this girl just lost her parents. Please show some respect," Caroline rudely scolded Lux.

"I know. And I'm a sophomore. Same age as you." Lux replied crossly, slinging her camo backpack further over her right arm and twirling her curls a bit. "My parents were the other people in the car crash. They died," Lux told the blondie while keeping a serious face. "Show some respect," she imitated Miss Forbes acidly. Caroline paled before turning to Elena. "So this is Lux. Well nice to meet you," Caroline said awkwardly, her arms slung around herself insecurely.

"I'm going to go out on a limb here and guess that you're Forbes," Lux said coldly. "It was very nice meeting you too." Lux kindly smiled before turning back to Bonnie and her sister of a sort, leaving Caroline to briskly walk away from the tension in the atmosphere. Also from Lux's chip on the shoulder.

"No comment," Lux said with a titter. Her laugh was infectious, almost musical and Bonnie let out a peel of giggles too. Elena snickered at the two and at the look of surprise on Care's face still fresh in her mind.

"I wasn't going to say anything," Bonnie lied, still laughing. She was met with a raised eyebrow from Elena. That annoyed Lux. Why couldn't she also raise one eyebrow, how come she could only raise both or none? Ugh. The world was unfair.

"Hey, guys I'm going to go check on Jeremy. See ya later!" Lux called over her shoulder as she skipped off into the crowd. Bonnie and Elena cast a worried glance at the other. She was going to the crackheads' area. And they knew how Lux freaked when pressured to smoke or do any drugs. And paired with her chip in the shoulder? Oh no.

* * *

As Lux pushed through the doors at the back of the school, she was met with an earthy smell, and smoke. Lots of smoke. She coughed and tried to find Jeremy. There he was, sitting with a girl she had only heard of. Vicki. Walking towards them, she tried to tap into her old, sweet and bubbly personality. That was until she heard what Jeremy was saying to Vicki.

"Don't take more than two in a six-hour window." Jeremy said, handing Vicki a bottle of pills. Lux's pills for her panic attacks, to be exact. She rushed behind them, checking the label to be sure. Yep, they were hers.

"What the hell Jer?!" Lux shouted. She startled both Vicki and her adopted brother. Vicki looked confused and Jeremy had the decency to look guilty. "What are you doing, using my pills for my panic attacks?" She said, harshly whispering the last to him. He was saved from answering when a guy, taller than Lux, but hey who wasn't, and tan skin sauntered forward. His hair was gelled into a quiff. The sight of him seemed to anger Jer, and he ran his long fingers through his shaggy copper hair.

"Hey, Vicki. I knew I'd find you here with the crackheads." He said, looking at Jeremy with a poorly veiled sarcastic and displeased smile. This must be Tyler then. The one dating Vicki, that treated her like crap. Lux didn't like him that much.

"Hey, Pete Wentz called. He wants his nail polish back." Tyler said snidely to Jeremy. Lux was already mad, but she was close to blazing now. Anyways, how was that an insult? Fall Out Boy was one of her favorite bands.

"Pete Wentz, huh? How old school T.R.L. of you. Carson Daly fan?" Lux silently cheered on Jeremy with her eyes. Tyler was a dick.

"Oh, Ty, be nice. That's Elena's little brother," Vicki said softly. She didn't mention that their parents had been recently killed in a car crash. But then again, she didn't have to. Vicki turned to Lux and tried to smile at her before being met with an icy gaze. Lux seemed to be giving a lot of those lately. "So you're the famous Ginnavia Lux James."

"Famous?" Lux's icy gaze transformed into an inquisitive one. She furrowed her thick and dark eyebrows together. How did anybody here even know about her? This must be the down side to living in an exceptionally small town. Everyone knew everything about the other.

"Yeah," Vickie said hazily. She must have just taken a drag. "Jeremy talks about you all the time. The way you let him make his own choices. And the way you're strong, and a total bad ass." This time, when Vicki smiled at Lux she was returned with one.

"Welcome to Mystic Falls High," Tyler said to Lux. What was that note in his voice? Was he seriously flirting with her? "Also known as living hell. Well, I guess you live with Jeremy Gilbert, so this will seem like a walk in a park." he said rudely, smirking at Jeremy.

"Excuse me," Lux shot back. She got up and stalked over to Tyler. Her throat felt hot. "Jeremy is the best brother I could ever ask for. He's more of a gentleman than you'll ever be, that's for sure. Don't you ever talk to him or about him that away again, jerk." Suddenly her clenched hands felt warm and she brought them to her face.

There was fire in her fiery palms.

She heard Jeremy call after her as she sprinted away from them. She couldn't handle this smoke. She felt like she was choking and the feeling that everything seemed too close crawled into her mind again. She left and by the time she was with Bonnie and Elena, she had convinced herself that it had been that blasted smoke causing hallucinations.

As Lux approached the two other girls she caught Bonnie's last words, "It's a hot back." Lux shrugged off her foreboding feeling that something was wrong and laughed. The two other girls turned to her and made room for her at the office door.

"So who has a hot back?" She asked. Elena and Bonnie jerked their heads in the direction of the secretary and Lux found herself looking at a possible new student. "Oh, well you two can goggle all you want but he's a new student like me and since I don't like him like you guys obviously do, he's my new friend. BA-BAM!" She said, making a few kids around her look at her weird. "What, boy?" She asked them while trying to act gangster like, making them scurry by. She laughed again. Bonnie snorted, and Elena smacked Lux on the arm jokingly. The boy at the secretary's place was just leaning over and talking to Mrs. Roberts, but the secretary seemed dazed. Lux walked over to Mrs. Robinson, concerned, and stopped behind Stefan.

"Please look again. I'm sure everything you need is there," the new boy asked, looking deeply into the secretary's eyes. The secretary looked again to her papers where Lux could plainly see papers that were completely blank. Something about the boy seemed familiar. The shiny copper hair and warm green eyes. The Roman nose and strong jaw.

"Well, you're right. So it is," Mrs. Robinson said in monotone. What was wrong with her? Then she realized where she'd seen the boy. At the crash. He was the one that had saved Elena. She needed to say something to him.

"I'm sensing Seattle, and he plays the guitar." Lux heard Bonnie say. Wait, Bonnie was probably too far away for her to hear that. How could she hear Bonnie?

"You're really going to run this whole psychic thing into the ground, huh?" Elena said. Lux shook her head. Something was off with her today. She looked again at the boy beside her. He was strange, today she could feel the vibes rubbing off from people. Everyone had their own vibration and feeling, even smell, but what was odd was that she didn't feel anything around the boy. She smelt a strong scent of roses from him and sweet mint, but no feeling.

She said to herself that she'd bring it up to him if they became friends. She didn't want to seem like a creep and drive him away from having a chance with Bonnie or Elena. Sidling up to him, she gave him a smile and began to introduce herself. "Hey, I'm Lux."

The boy looked down at her with a calm expression but the sudden widening of his eyes gave him away. Lux smiled victoriously and lightly punched him on the arm. "I'm Stefan Salvatore," he managed. She smiled up at his impressive height, well to her anyways, and looked him up and down. She hummed mischievously. "Well, to let you know, that girl over there? Yeah her. She is awfully single, pretty, and thinks you're cute. Why don't you go talk to her?"

That caused Stefan's cheeks to turn pink, and he ducked his head shyly. Lux waited a little before continuing. "You know, the one you saved from drowning?" That caught Stefan's attention. "And what did you do to Mrs. Roberts?" Stefan looked at her, and sighed. He admit his secret was getting heavy. Maybe he could tell her about- No, that'd just put her in more danger. "Do you know about anything that's happening to me?" Lux whispered, her hands grasping his arm lightly.

"What's happening to you?" He asked, concerned. He barely knew this girl and yet he felt protective of her. Lux sighed, and held on to that moment when she had been so angry. She tried to recreate the feeling and soon enough, her hands got hot. She pulled Stefan to the side and opened her palm. Inside was a small fire, the flames licking her hands and yet it felt cool. Stefan touched her hand and pulled back quickly as it burned. Quicker than any human could. "I'm going to go on a limb and say you're not exactly human."

"We'll talk tomorrow after school." Stefan replied. Lux nodded her head and they traded numbers before walking away from the other. As Lux looked back, she saw Elena walk away from scolding Jeremy in the men's bathroom and happily smiled when Stefan bumped into her and they talked. Ahh, OTP! Lux's fangirl was showing, oops.

As Lux walked into class, she got ready for Mr. Tanner's history class. Apparently he was a jerk too. Nothing eventful happened in class besides Elena and Stefan making googly eyes at each other. Lux rolled her eyes and doodled lyrics on the back of her writing notebook. Her phone vibrated and Lux ignored the vibration. She was still not used to texting during school. She was successful in ignoring it until she got another vibration and another. Finally she opened up her phone and saw they were from Elena and Bonnie. A group message.

BONNIE: HAWT-E STARING U.

ELENA: IK HEHE XO

LUX: SHUT UP AND TALK OUTSIDE OF CLASS. AND LEARN TO USE FULL SENTENCES WHILE YOU'RE AT IT.

ELENA: PARTY POOPER ;)

BONNIE: IDEK Y LUX DSNT LIKE ME TXTNG LIKE DIS.

LUX: UGHHHHHHHHHHH. WHY DO I PUT UP WITH THIS?

ELENA: BC U LUV US!

LUX: SURE, WHATEVER FLOATS YOUR BOAT HONEY.

* * *

Lux slung her camp back pack higher and readjusted her daisy skirt. She walked beside Elena to Grove Hill Cemetery where- where they were. Once inside the gates, the two girls walked down the isles of stones and headed to four graves, side by side that were fairly new. Elena sat at her mother's grave, and took out her diary and began to write. It was Miranda Gilbert who had wanted Elena to be a writer after all. In the pale sunlight through the tree branches, Lux ran her fingers on the rough letters entitling her parents name and rummaged through her back pack before drawing out two letters and a rosary. Placing the rosary on her mother's grave she prayed and left a letter for her respective parents.

Lux whispered, knowing Elena couldn't hear her, "Lord, can you give me a sign that Lily will be okay? If she dies, can you give her the best experience in Heaven that you can?" Turning away, she silently cried. She didn't want Elena to comfort her or try and help her stop crying. Sometimes people just needed to cry, and the coping came later. Lux finished and wiped away at her eyes, glad that she never wore make up. Lux guessed she was pretty goody-two-shoes seeing that she never wore make up, never dated, and such. Her throat constricted. Her mom was going to let her date boys when she turned sixteen, and now Delilah and Walter weren't even going to be here for her sixteenth birthday. Especially with their planned trip to Ireland, the place Lux was dying to see.

"Ok. Hi, bird. That's not creepy or anything. Shoo!" Lux heard Elena call out. Lux laughed and walked carefully up to the bird, shrugging on her back pack.

"You don't mean any harm now do you, Edgar Allan Poe? Go Eddie go! Be free!" Lux laughed again and then half shrugged at Elena when the crow didn't budge. Something felt wrong. "We should probably get going, Miss Lana Del Rey." Elena shot her a confused glance and Lux elaborated, "You know? Elena? Lena? L-a-n-a! The singer Lana Del Rey?" She trailed off, figuring that Elena just didn't understand. "Never mind." They started to pack up their things when fog came and started tumbling down the gravestones. "AHHH!" Lux said whilst comically running away from the fog. "The poisonous fog from the Quarter Quell has reappeared!" She started laughing hysterically. "Save me Elena! Oh, wait. Go away Elena, I want Finnick to save me!"

Elena started to run after Lux, scared and not wanting to be alone when she tripped on a vine and made both fall down the hill. It was easy for Elena to catch up with Lux, seeing as Lux had shorter legs and had been born pigeon toed, which she was trying to fix now. "Ow," Elena complained, pushing Lux off her legs and rubbing her head. Lux merely laughed and inspected her cut, shrugging it off.

"You okay?" Someone asked. Elena looked up and quickly brushed herself off seeing that it was none other than Stefan. She smiled hastily. Lux stifled her giggles at the sight of them. She shipped them so hard.

"Were you following me?" Elena teased. Lux scoffed, and Stefan replied with a, "No, I-a, uh, I-a just — I saw you fall." Laaammmee, Lux thought though didn't say out loud, wanting to watch her pairing.

"Uh-huh, and you just happened to be hanging out in a cemetery." Elena said disbelieving ly.

"I'm visiting. I have family here." Stefan said quietly. Lux slapped her forehead. Oh no.

"Oh. Wow. Tactless. I'm sorry. It's the fog, it's making me foggy. And then back there, there was this - this bird, and it was all very Hitchcock for a second." Elena shrugged, ashamed. "That is the bird movie, right, the Hitchcock? . . . I'm Elena." She held out her hand, and they shook. Awwwwww, Lux thought.

"I'm Stefan." He said, smiling. His face was trustworthy and kind. Elena beamed back, "I know. We have History together." The duo stared longingly at each other. "And English. And French," Stefan reminded Elena. Lux hated to interrupt, but she had homework to get done and a book to devour, fall in love with, and cry over; I mean, read. Lux cleared her throat and the conversation moved along.

"Right," she said, fiddling with the hem of her shirt. Stefan reached forward and took a twig out of her hair. Elena smiled gratefully at him. "Thanks... Nice ring."

Stefan drew back, surprised and then looked down at his ring as if just realizing it was there. "Oh," he touched the blue lapiz stone and smiled shyly at her, "Um, It's a family ring, yeah. I'm kinda stuck with it. It's weird, huh?"

"No, no. It's just, I mean, there are rings and then there's that," she hurriedly replied. Luck couldn't help but chime in. "Is that, by any chance, the Horcrux Dumbeldore found?" Stefan looked confused while Elena shot her an amused glance over her shoulder.

"Did you hurt yourself?" Stefan directed at Lux. She nodded her head happily and showed him her arm. It had a deep gash that ran the length of about three inches.

"Maybe I can actually get a scar from this cut," she mused. "Make me look tough. And, if I ever go to Australia, I can say it's from 'wrestling with the crocodiles and dingos,'" she said in a tacky Australian accent.

Stefan turned around, grey veins coming to life on his face and his eyes darkening. He needed to get out of here before he did something stupid. He was on his way to hunt animals when he saw the girls fall. He needed to replenish completely before being anywhere near human blood. But something was different about Lux's blood. It was harder for him to resist, which meant that he needed to move now.

"Are you okay?" Elena asked Stefan. Did he not like the sight of blood? She was met with an ominous sounding, "You should go. Take care of that."

"Really, I feel just dandy," Lux said, totally unaware of how much she was torturing Stefan by being so close. Her blood smelled better than most people's, it smelt divine. Elena heard a branch snap close by and she looked back, walking a little bit to see a tell tale flash of gold eyes. What was that?

While Elena was turned away and distracted, Lux grabbed Stefan's arm and twirled herself around to face him. She didn't gasp when she saw his face. She merely told him to go, and that she'd text him later. "Take care of yourself." She didn't need to say it twice and Stefan was gone before the other girl came back.

* * *

"We're meeting Bonnie at the grill!" Elena called out to Jenna as she grabbed her jacket from the kitchen. Jenna smiled and waved good bye to Elena as Lux came down the stairs jumping them two at a time. "Yay!" Lux hollered, landing with a thud.

"Ok, have fun," Jenna smiled then snapped back around the corner to the hallway where the girls were just about leaving. "Wait, I got this. Don't stay out late, it's a school night." Lux applauded Jenna and picked a flower out of the vase nearby and threw it at Jenna's feet. "Brava!"

"Well done, Aunt Jenna," Elena smiled. She opened the door, and Lux squeezed by her and barreled right into something solid causing her to fall backwards. "Oof."

"Sorry, I was about to knock." Stefan apologized, pulling Luna up from the porch. "I wanted to apologize for my disappearing act earlier. I know it was . . . strange." Lux sighed and grabbed the keys from Elena, walking on. She wanted to leave the two lovebirds to themselves.

As Lux waited by the car, she saw something move in the corner of her eye. Turning, she came face to chest with someone and banged her head. She toppled backwards for the second time. "Again? Really Stefan?" She heard a snide laugh and looked up. She scrambled to her feet again, this wasn't Stefan. She looked up to the door, where Stefan was handing Elena back her diary. She heard Stefan say, "Well, I wouldn't want anyone to read mine." So he had a diary too? She was confused. Stefan was way too far for her to be able to hear him. The wind picked up around her and she could here a car coming down the street. She looked around and saw no car but sure enough, after a while she saw it. It was two streets away. Sucking in her breath nervously, she looked up at the person before her. The first feature that caught her eye when she looked at him was his bright blue eyes. They were the bluest eyes she'd ever seen. Then came the arrogant and narcissist smirk stretched over his face. Yet something about him seemed familiar.

"Have I met you before?" Lux asked shrewdly. She didn't like his over the top cocky smile. The man laughed, he looked in his early twenties. Lux immediately could tell it was a sarcastic laugh. She took a step back as it dawned on her that she felt no vibration from him. Like Stefan. "Are you related to Stefan Salvatore?" That wiped the smug smirk off of the man's face. He took a few menacing steps forward and Lux was hit with a wave of the strange combination of bitter mint and honey.

"I'm Damon," he replied. "And who are you? More importantly, what are you?" Lux took a step back and suddenly there was fire on her hands. Not in her hands like it had been last time when she had gotten angry. Now it was covering her fists. Damon's eyes widened and he rushed away. He was gone from view within seconds.

"Lux?" Stefan asked, wrapping his arms protectively around the small girl when she started to shake. The fire was out now but she felt like Damon would be back any minute. "Come on, I'm coming with you guys to the Grill." Lux smiled at him and sat in the back seat. Elena came down and unlocked her door, ready to drive off. Stefan climbed in but as he did he saw a flash of gold eyes from across the street before it was gone.

"A man named Damon came by," Lux whispered from the back seat to Stefan. He went rigid. When he got home he needed to look for that vervain he had. He wasn't going to let Elena nor Lux get hurt.

* * *

As they walked into the Grill, Elena saw Matt and Bonnie talking together. Matt came over, ready to introduce himself to Stefan who was looking at Elena so tenderly. "Hey, I'm Matt. Nice to meet you." He said, shaking hands gruffly with Stefan.

"Hi," Stefan said smiling. "Stefan." He introduced himself. Lux was talking to Bonnie and going to sit down at a booth with Caroline.

"Hey," Elena said hopefully. Maybe Matt would be happy to see her. More open, comfortably talking with each other like it used to be. But she was met with a bitter, "Hey." Matt walked over to the booth. Elena sighed and Stefan lead her over to the place where they were going to sit.

"So you were born in Mystic Falls?" Caroline questioned. Lux sighed, Caroline seemed like she could be a good friend but not a secret keeper. Also, she seemed to be throwing herself at Stefan. She wasn't going to have her OTP broken up.

"Mm-Hmm. And moved when I was still young," Stefan replied, taking a sip of his soda. He smiled at Caroline, hiding his weariness of her constant questioning.

"Parents?" Caroline asked. Lux mentally slapped her in the face for not leaving any pause between questions. Stefan paused, and looked down.

"My parents passed away," he said. Lux felt her empathy reach out and she found herself patting his hand in the best comforting way she could. "I'm sorry," Elena said sympathetically.

"Any siblings?" Lux asked, mind drifting to beeping and blinking machines, drawn curtains, and an unconscious sister. "No," Stefan said slowly, his eyes saying the opposite to Lux. "None that I talk to. I live with my uncle." Lux nodded very slightly, so Stefan could see. Damon was his brother. And a narcissist one at that.

"So Stefan," butted in Caroline. "If you're new, then you don't know about the party tomorrow."

"It's a back to school thing at the falls," Bonnie contributed. She smiled and Lux high fived her under the table. Apparently Bonnie shipped them too.

"Are you going?" Stefan asked Elena. Lux started to talk to Matt, he seemed like a really nice boy. Plus, if she was going to have a thriving social life here Matt was one of those guys she could use. He seemed trustworthy enough.

"Of course she is," Bonnie replied for Elena. Elena smiled at Stefan and he nodded. He was definitely going.

* * *

**A/N: Okay, so this was longish and part one of episode one "Pilot." I hope you enjoyed it! So excited to see the response to this because I worked hard! Please review and favorite/follow. I will be updating as soon as I can. Thanks for everything and you'll be able to see a lot more of Damon soon, though they will not be rushed into the lovey-dovey stage. **

**TTFN**

**X**


	4. Pilot- Part 2

**A/N: Okay well here's chapie 4. Hope you guys enjoy it! Thanks for the reviews, they mean heaps to me. /h6EY-aEdNVE**

**Guest 1- Thanks for the compliment my dear! **

**Guest 2- I will try to update about once to three times a week, depending on how much homework and how's long my practices for a tennis, volleyball, water polo, and lacrosse go. Also, she does control fire but you'll find out what role she has to play and what she specifically is later. Thanks love!**

**HungerGamesHarryPotter7887- Wow, long review! Wasn't expecting this and most definitely appreciated it. Thanks for the compliments. *blushes of embarresment* You were actually a key component for me to start writing this! If you think of something you want to add or something that could be fixed, please review or PM me! **

**Mrsdansmith- Who is Dan Smith? Please let me know, I'm REALLY curious now and I never let anything interesting just go. I would look him up, but it would be better to hear who he is from a fan of his. Damon will show up more actually, and maybe in these next few chapies he might get a lead role.**

**Sadtenshi- Thank you so much! I didn't know I was capable of actually making others have feels- I thought that was just for John Green and others. ;) Hope you enjoy the rest! Yay. c:**

**I (regrettably) am here to inform you that I do not- under any circumstances- own The Vampire Diaries.**

* * *

A pair of strong pale hands grabbed the young man with the eyes the color of the bluest sky in hell. Beautiful and seductive on the outside, tricky and moral less within. Damon laughed at the woman in front of him. "And you expect me to believe you?" He scoffed. The woman with the golden eyes pushed him up higher on the wall, successfully cutting off his air supply. "Okay, okay!" Damon wheezed out. "I've suddenly had a change of faith." He was rewarded with being able to get oxygen back into his lungs. He gasped, subconsciously fidgeting with his daylight ring. He walked around the woman in front of him warily, and crossed over to the liquor. Too much new information to deal with sober.

"I need you to stay away from her," the person warned. Damon nodded happily. "See, that's something I _can _do. I don't want to be around something that can torch me to ashes. I like- well is it living or un-living? Anyways, that's not a problem," he summarized under the lady's reproachful eye. The woman with the gold eyes nodded appreciatively. She stepped away from Damon and began to walk away from the boarding house parlor. Before she left though, Damon used his vampire speed and rushed in front of her. "But really, what are you? I mean, I can tell you're not a vampire. But with those freaky _gorgeous _gold eyes," Damon said, twirling a piece of the young woman's blonde hair in his right hand flirtatiously. "You've got to be something of the sort. Hmm?" He asked, cockily raising his eyebrows in an almost suggestive manner. The woman's hand shot out and broke his fingers, twisting each painfully. She snarled at him as he winced and then took a hasty step away.

"And what a shame, I had thought I could leave you to have your memory of me," she said in a patronizing tone, as if talking to a baby that couldn't quite grasp the meaning of her words. "And since you won't remember this until I want you to," she said idly. "Let's just say I'm old. Arcane even, and that my people were the ones blamed for the disappearance of that wretched girl." She growled while simultaneously breaking Damon's other hand. "We had heard from a little bird that Delilah and Walter were having second thoughts about giving over Lux and well, we couldn't have that. Now thanks to you, our girl didn't need to kill them. But also thanks to you, we can't get her now." The gold eyed woman looked into the vampire's eyes and steadily told him to forget her, and to remember this conversation when needed to. And only then.

"Until next time, child," she called over her shoulder, flicking blonde hair over brown leather coat. Damon looked around, wondering why a glass of his favorite whiskey was broken on the floor.

* * *

"You promised," Zach accused Stefan, shoving a newspaper in front of him. Stefan was startled and looked up at his nephew. He seemed a little jumpy lately, but that mainly had to do with both the fact that Lux was coming over soon and that she knew about Damon. Not to mention her fire tricks.

"This was an animal attack," Stefan sighed, looking at his room's full shelves. And he was suddenly having a sneaking suspicion that Damon was in town again. He let his mind wander for a second to the party he was going to and Elena before snapping himself back to attention. _Focus_, he chided himself. He folded up one of numerous diaries and rested it on his desk.

"Don't give me that." Zach snapped at him. "I know the game. You tear them up enough, they always suspect an animal attack. You said you had it under control!" He shouted angrily. He rubbed his stubby beard and shifted his stance. "And I do," Stefan replied coldly. He looked at Zach reproachfully.

"Please, Uncle Stefan," Zach said. His tone had changed from an angry one to a forlorn and desperate note. "Mystic Falls is a different place now. It's been quiet for years, but there are people who still remember. And you being here, it's just going to stir things up." Zach tried to convince his uncle. "It's not my intention," was his distant reply. Zach sighed again, something he seemed to always be doing.

"Then what is? Why did you come back? After all this time, why now?" Stefan pondered on this question and didn't want to reply that he was there because of Elena Gilbert and how she looked like Katherine. After contemplation, he said, "I don't have to explain myself." Stefan went back to reading the paper about the supposed animal attack.

"I know that you can't change what you are. But you don't belong here anymore." Zach gazed down at Stefan's figure with a sort of empathy that he didn't think he could have mustered for a vampire. Stefan was one of the good ones, but with Stefan's good came his self-loathing and guilt. Zach guessed that was the punishment for going against your nature.

"Where _do _I belong?" Stefan quietly asked. He wasn't angry, his tone was despair. Just then a knock sounded from the front door. Stefan got up tiredly to answer it only to be met nothing outside. No one. Confused, he poked his head out a little more. Nothing, until he looked down a little farther to the short Lux. She beamed up at him and he smiled back. Something about her energy was endearingly infectious.

"So, may I come in?" She asked teasingly. "Or are you just going to stare at me from the door?" Stefan smiled shyly and stepped back, he hadn't even noticed that he'd been staring at her for a while. He politely opened the door wider for her and she walked in, stripping off her coat and hanging it on one of the numerous pegs on the wall. "You know, I almost didn't come here at all. I was afraid, what with you being a little less than normal, you'd be dangerous." Lux laughed genuinely and then added, "But then I tried to picture you as a violent person and just couldn't match your sweet green eyes to those of someone that would intentionally hurt anyone."

His mind wandered to his dark times without humanity and he inwardly shuddered. Stefan walked over to her, careful to keep a small distance between him and Lux. Even after feeding off of the forest animals earlier, he was still drawn to her blood. He walked her up to his room where he could talk to her in privacy. Lux gazed wondrously at everything around her, amazed at the shere amount of historical objects. She slowly orbited around in a circle while trying to follow Stefan at the same time. She was successful until she collided with something at her back. She tripped, and squeezed her eyes shut for impact but only felt warm hands on her arms. Looking up, she expected Stefan to be there but was met with the cold and calculating blue eyes of Damon.

Lux gazed at him and took in his features. He was good looking, but something about him felt off. She curiously poked his arm and he gazed annoyingly down at her. Lux jumped back as he playfully tried to bite her finger. She laughed, he didn't _seem_ all that bad, and turned around to Stefan only to be met with his angry glare. And it was directed at Damon. "Well, we be off then," Lux said, pulling on Stefan's arm. Stefan shook off his stare and smiled down at Lux. Something about her just made him want to protect her from harm. Maybe it was because she seemed so small, and he didn't want Damon to hurt her to get back at him.

Once up in Stefan's room, Lux sprawled out on his bed grateful that she'd worn her comfy pair of boyfriends jeans and Avengers tank. She lay her black spiked bag on the floor and kicked off black ballet Oxfords. She sighed, and Stefan glanced at her bemusedly. She caught his look, and harrumphed. "What? I'm tired and I was too impatient to wait after school, so I woke up early." Lux yawned, and it sounded like notes going down a scale. Stefan cautiously laid down next her, not wanting to scare her. Lux cuddled into his arm before forcefully making herself sit up. "You are like the big brother I always wanted," she gruelingly drawled out while simultaneously rubbing the sleep from her eyes.

"So what are you?" Lux asked, plopping into a sitting position besides the teenage boy next to her. Stefan sighed, how did he explain what he was without intimidating her away? The young girl's smile didn't falter and their seemed to be a warm breeze skirting around the room. When Stefan failed to answer after a few moments Lux laughed. "I mean, it's not as if you're Edward Cullen for crying out loud!" Her smile froze and broke as he apologetically smiled and shrugged his shoulders. "Wait, you're a vampire?"

Stefan rushed in, "But I only drink animal blood."

There was a long pause while Lux ingested the information and Stefan stared at his hands.

"Okay, I can live with that." Stefan's face whipped towards hers. "I mean, it's not as if you feed off of humans and kill them for fun! And another question," she waited for Stefan to nod and she continued. "Why so mad at Damon? He's your brother, and he's good too, yeah?"

"Well, while I personally don't drink human blood or use mind compulsion on them, my brother Damon does. Frequently," he added hoping to warn her. "He's not good news Lux. Please, just stay away from him."

The girl before him seemed to mull this over and hesitantly nodded. "But everyone has good in them," she finally said though she regretted ever laughing with Damon, who knew how many people he's hurt. Stefan nodded in agreement and replied, "Yes. I'm just trying to unearth that part of Damon again." Lux nodded understandingly and then moved on to another subject. "So are there an advantages to being a vampire?" The word felt strange rolling out of her mouth.

Stefan looked at her and used his extra speed to transfer himself from one side of her to the other. She gasped, eyes filling with curiosity. Lux always was a sucker for her own will to simply _learn_. "Wait," he said. He ran to the window, dangling from the railing, and plummeted down. Lux dashed to the window to see him on the ground before he jumped back on to the sill. She tried to hold in her giddy laughter, but it sneaked out in peels of amazed chortles and a snort.

"What about you?" Stefan asked. Lux breathed in and held out her hand again, she'd been practicing on her fire tricks. Stefan gazed at the red flames, transfixed. Then she closed her palm and it was gone. She breathed out and the warm breeze in the room picked up until it was twisting Lux's hair and pages flew around Stefan's room. She hadn't been practicing this one as much and soon she realized the wind was trying to fight her. She cupped her hands together and held them strongly. The wind turned freezing and Lux could see her breath before her. Stefan pushed his way to her, and grasped her arm to support her. Lux's concentration was broke, and her body was sucked out the window. Stefan was hurled into one of his book cases, and couldn't see straight. He tried to shuffle to grab Lux from falling out the window but his body wasn't functioning properly. "Lux!"

Damon walked down the hallway below, and eavesdropped on his brother and the small girl's conversation. _Lux,_ _what an odd name._ So baby brother was confiding in her about the vampire stuff. He was curious, and already had a plan forming. Get the girl to trust him. Then snap her neck. What will Stefan do? Well, Damon had promised an eternity of misery and he was just fulfilling his promise. Damon paused mid-step when he heard a loud bang from upstairs. What were they up to? He slid up the stairs and barged into the door to be smacked in the face with one of Stefan's diaries. He snarled and felt the cold wind, more like mini tornado, tossing the book back in the current. In his peripheral vision, he spied Lux flying out the window and rushed over. He can't have her dying now, that was to be done by him.

He snatched her hand but Lux seemed repulsed by him, and Damon guessed that Stefan had told her about his lifestyle. He smirked, trying to get a foot hold on the ground but he was thrown out too. Down they fell, Lux didn't scream. Damon crashed into their hedges and got up to straighten himself out. He peered around, wanting to find the whatever the hell Lux was. There she was- but what was she doing?

Lux peeked through her eyes, waiting for the pain. But she felt nothing. She opened her eyes wider to find that she was a couple feet off the ground. Part of her was relieved and the other part was frightened. Of course, there was also her ever present curious side. She smiled and dropped to the green grass and crossed herself happily. Out of the window came her bag and Stefan. Stefan eased from his crouch and looked at Lux, assessing her, to make sure she was alright. He picked up her bag and used his sonic speed to grab her coat for her. "I think that's enough crazy for today," Damon joked snidely. This time Lux disapprovingly glared at him and put on both jacket and bag.

"Hey, Stefan?" She asked tentatively. Her eyes were sort of blank and she seemed to be in a daze. She halfheartedly tried to smooth down her hair.

"Hmm hmm?" He replied, not taking his eyes off of Damon in case he tried anything. Why had he helped save Lux?

"Can I get a lift to school?" Stefan nodded and turned to her before scooping her up into his arms and jumping into the sky, landing in a parking lot a little ways from school. Lux hollered as he put her down and asked if they could do that again. He smiled, glad she was herself again, and assured her that they could. He walked at a normal human pace with her to another day at Mystic Falls High.

* * *

"The Battle of Willow Creek took place right at the end of the war in our very own Mystic Falls," Mr. Tanner droned on and on in history class. Lux usually loved history but this was not her exact cup of tea. She made a face as if she were to die from boredom towards Bonnie and Bonnie could hardly repress her giggles. "How many casualties resulted in this battle? Ms. Bennett?"

Lux rolled her eyes and rummaged through her bag to find her current book _An Abundance of Katherines. "_Um . . . a lot? I'm not sure. Like, a whole lot." Lux laughed under her breath, and turned to Elena who was sharing some pretty intense romance novel stares with Stefan. She tittered again, imagining Bella and Edward then groaned. She _hated_- oops, she meant _strongly disliked _Twilight. Sure, she'd still read all the books. Lux bobbed her curls around and sneakily read John Green under her desk. If they got to act all in love, then she got to read about her love. He was fictional, but aren't all the best guys?

"Cute becomes dumb in an instant, Ms. Bennett." The tiny girl looked up long enough to glower at the back of Mr. Tanner's head. "Mr. Donovan? Would you like to take this opportunity to overcome your embedded jock stereotype?" Nobody turned to see Matt but you could tell in his tone that he was smiling.

"It's okay, Mr. Tanner, I'm cool with it." Lux turned in her seat and air high fived Matt. He smiled at her as she turned around. He just felt like she was a silly little girl, one that sometimes was really deep and at other times making the worst puns ever. "If someone throws a coffee cup at me, does it count to say I've been mugged?" Lux wrote on a piece of paper and handed back to Matt. He guffawed and visibly crumpled it and threw it at her head, where it promptly got stuck in her hair. She tugged it, and with a final pull it was released but she landed on the floor- definitely not in her seat. Looking at the wad of paper she saw a piece of gummy putty. She got up, not without a teasing frown at Matt, and sat back down with dignity. Mr. Tanner didn't know what to do with this situation. So he moved on to torture someone else.

"Hmm. Elena?" Elena shot around from making dreamy eyes at Stefan to the definitely less attractive Mr. Tanner. "Surely you can enlighten us about one of the town's most significantly historical events?" He said in his ever present snide voice.

"I'm sorry, I-I don't know," she fumbled. Lux turned her serial killer mode on and stared at her jerk of history teacher. It usually got them all flustered and embarrassed and they wouldn't be able to grill or even look a student in the eye for a few minutes or until aforementioned serial killer mode was turned off. But not this teacher, he was a different breed of horrible teacher.

"I was willing to be lenient last year for obvious reasons, Elena," he stared at her and Elena squirmed in her seat. Lux raised her eyebrows, he was using her technique! She felt her hackles raise- well if she _had_ hackles, she was sure they'd be raised. "But the personal excuses ended with summer break." Okay, enough.

"Excuse me?" Lux said disdainfully. She looked at him as if he was a particularly disgusting and repulsing non-canon ship that made no sense unless the character had Stockholm's Syndrome. "I believe that is a little out of line for you to say. Now, I know that you've got a reputation to up hold and all that meaningless-supposed-to-be-meaningful crap, but I'll have you know that we're not here for your amusement. You're here to teach, not torture or ridicule. So please," she paused looking down at her book once more and finishing her sentence without looking back at him, "refrain from doing so."

No one said anything for a moment- but when they did reply to Lux's outburst, they laughed and a few clapped appreciatively. Even no-smile-Stefan quirked at it, and bemusedly glanced at his friend. "There were 346 casualties. Unless you're counting local civilians," Stefan answered Elena's previous question. Mr. Tanner's face had gone red, and he told himself that he'd deal with Ginnavia Lux James. Back to teaching.

"That's correct. Mister. . .?" Stefan leaned forward in his desk and peered at the teacher before him oddly. "Salvatore," he finished for him. "Salvatore. Any relation to the original settlers here at Mystic Falls?"

Stefan tried to keep his features from giving away himself and shrugged before answering. "Distant." Lux knew what that meant and tried to cover up her laugh with a racking cough.

"Well, very good. Except, of course, there were no civilian casualties in this battle," at which Stefan shook his head and replied sickeningly sweetly. "Actually, there were 27, sir. Confederate soldiers, they fired on the church, believing it to be housing weapons. They were wrong. It was a night of great loss. The founder's archives are, uh, stored in civil hall if you'd like to brush up on your facts. Mr. Tanner." There was a few laughs and impressed whistles form the class and Stefan knew he'd earned some respect.

Humiliated yet again, Mr, Tanner responded with a simple, "Hmm," and a slightly warranted glare at Lux who paid no attention to him whatsoever besides a sarcastic smirk and then at Stefan who had a similar expression.

* * *

Lux was just about ready to head to the party at the Falls when she heard shuffling in Jer's room. Walking out in her leather looking skirt and gray hoodie. She tiptoed up and quickly rapped on the door. Jer had told her about him being with Vicki the last summer and how now she was with Tyler and didn't think of him as even an option anymore. She felt like she needed to help him and do something that can actually help. It was probably her atychiphobia flaring up though.

"Jer?" Getting no response, she sighed and walked down stairs. She grabbed her phone and purse before retiring to Elena's car to wait for Jeremy. A few moments later, Jeremy walked over and slid into the back seat. They were off.

Once at the party, Lux could see why everyone wanted to go here. The place was big, you could see the stars, and there were no parents around. None. But, there was plenty of alcohol. Lux thought about it, she'd always loved the few tastes of beer, whine, and champagne her parents had given her. And she promised herself that she wouldn't get drunk. There was just something about drinking so much that your brain swells and presses against your cranium painfully that didn't exactly call to her. Looking around, she pulled a smiling Elena over to Bonnie at the bonfire.

"Just admit it, Elena." Bonnie started with a red Solo cup of beer or something sloshing in her hand. Lux stole it and took a sip before placing it back in her hands. Hmm... not too bad.

"Oh, okay, so he's a little pretty." Elena finally gave up. Lux looked around to find the one and only nice brother vampire. He was smiling, and Lux thought that he had probably been using his vamp powers to listen in on their conversation. She saw Caroline walk up to him and she began to blatantly flirt with him besides the fact that she had seen the looks exchanged between Elena and him just a few hours ago. Lux sighed and readjusted her sweater.

"He has that romance novel stare," Bonnie reminded her laughing. Lux laughed and knowing Stefan could hear her. She deadpanned, "I think it's a little creepy, if you ask me."

"Right, well we didn't," Bonnie said while giggling. They looked around and just enjoyed the feeling around them.

"So where is he?" Bonnie asked. Elena shrugged and then got an idea. "I don't know. You tell me, you're the psychic one," she teased. Lux felt curious-again. Maybe Bonnie really was psychic. "Right, I forgot. Okay, so give me a sec. Grams says I have to concentrate."

"Wait!" Lux called and handed an empty beer bottle. "You need a crystal ball, silly!" Bonnie smiled and took the glass bottle as her fingers touched Lux's. Lux felt a strange surge around her as Bonnie dazed off for a moment before looking focused again.

"What?" Elena asked worried about Bonnie and confused as to why Lux's body had been jerked backwards. "What happened?"

"That was weird," Bonnie paused. "When I touched you, I saw a crow." Elena and Lux exchanged looks before Elena clarified. "What?"

"A crow. There was fire, earth, a tornado, and this lake. And from the fire came this weird fog and a man..." Bonnie tried to laugh it off. "I'm drunk. It's the drinking. There's nothing psychic about it. Yeah? Okay, I'm gonna get a refill." Bonnie left without waiting for a response. Lux frowned and thought of what Bonnie had said. So it was probably safe to assume that she was the real deal of a witch.

"Okay? Bonnie!" Elena frantically called after her friend's quickly retreating back. She sighed and turned around to meet Stefan.

"Hi," Elena said, surprised by his sudden appearance. "Hi," he said smiling at her. Lux took this as her cue to leave and walked away for some not as loud time. But that didn't mean she couldn't eavesdrop. She twirled her fingers around a curl absentmindedly and it started a light breeze towards her from their direction.

"Yeah," Lux heard Elena admit sheepishly. Lux kept walking, not really paying attention to exactly where she was going.

"I'm sorry. You're upset about something," Stefan said kindly. Lux laughed at how much of a gentleman he was.

"Oh, uh, no, it's- it's just Bonnie. She's... You know what? Never mind. You're . . . here," Lux could practically feel Elena's smile. Stefan was probably smiling again too.

"I'm here," he agreed and she heard them walk away. She started making her way to where someone had pointed out the path for the Falls. Must be beautiful at night. As she walked on the tough bark and stones, she finally made it to a clearing where she could take in the whole view. It opened up for about a thirty feet circumference with one side to the forest and the other to the hills around the Mystic Falls. She gazed around, still listening to Elena and Stefan's conversation. She heard footsteps nearby but brushed it off, figuring it was one of the other teenagers at the party.

" Last spring-" Lux heard Elena tell Stefan. Her heartbeat increased and she hunched her back and hugged her knees. "My parents' car hit someone, hit Lux's parents' car and drove off of a bridge into the lake. And I was in the backseat and I survived, but. . .they didn't. Lux's parents died, she's been staying with us, and her sister is in a coma. She won't even speak about her sister, I don't know her name, but Lux is like the sister I never had. So yeah, that's my story." Lux smiled sweetly at the end and wiped away a rogue tear. A long time ago, she had chosen not to show others that she was sad. Because when she did, they always either fretted about her and feel a bad about _her _feeling bad, or they treated her like a China doll. And she didn't like to be babied or fretted over. It had always felt like she was being smothered when she was sad, and if she distanced herself from the emotions, then she didn't have to feel that way.

"You won't be sad forever, Elena. And Lux will be okay." Stefan soothed. Lux could tell he had said that for her to hear. And even though she knew it wasn't true, even though she knew he was just trying to make her feel better, she somehow believed that it was really going to be okay.

A twig snapped nearby and Lux turned around. And another one, coming closer. She scooted back as the trail of broken crunches came to the edge of the clearing. It was a girl, about Lux's age it appeared, and she had black shiny hair and golden eyes. "Um, do you need help finding the path? It's right over there," Lux said, pointing to an opening to the clearing but a few feet away. The other teenager strode closer with a sort of prestigious air about her. She had on leather boots, dark jeans, and a brown leather jacket. The girl shook her head and smiled. Lux let out a shaky, horrified breath as she saw the girl's teeth.

They were pointed, serrated, like a sharks. All of them. Lux drew on her fire and put them up defensively. She stood up and took a few more cautious steps away from the golden eyed girl. "What do you want?" Lux bravely (or stupidly, you choose) called.

The Shark Teeth Girl, or STG for short, inched menacingly forward before replying. "I want you," she said. Lux laughed uneasily and said, "Right, well I don't swing that way. Back in Oregon, I had a friend that you might want to meet though."

"And you continue to talk," the girl muttered darkly. "Come, and there won't be any trouble." Lux laughed outright at that though. "The antagonist always says that in movies and books, and they never mean it."

"What makes you think I'm the villain?" The countered. Lux replied truthfully, "I don't think any protagonist would have a set of chompers like that. Well, besides Enobaria." STG tried to swipe at Lux, but Lux blew fire off her hands at her. STG shrieked in pain as Lux stumbled backwards. The fire kept growing, as STG burned alive. Spreading, always spreading. Lux couldn't contain it, she was too overcome with fear. Her eyes started to burn and her nose twitched at the awful smell of burning flesh. The smoke from the dry-ish grass made it hard for Lux to breath, paired with her panic attack, she was helpless. STG's scream pierced the air at the same time as another girl's. Lux listened harder.

It was Vicki, and there was a vampire there. Damon.

Lux let out a growl, angry at herself for not being able to move. She heaved in a mother lungful of smoke, trying to use her arms to army crawl across the hazy view in front of her. All of the sudden, voices broke out around her. From what she could tell, they'd found Vicki and she was alive, thank goodness. "LUX!" She heard someone cry out in a wild voice. Looking up through tears that annoyingly smeared her vision as easily as charcoal, she saw Lily. She was standing there, waiting for her. She breathed in, trying to move towards her sister.

Wait, that was Elena. The hallucination of Lily was gone and in her place was Bonnie, Elena, and Stefan. Someone else was there too, she could feel them. She used the last of her will and energy to push the last couple of feet where a strong pair of arms plucked her off the ground. "Lux, oh Lux," Elena cooed as she stroked the girl's heated hair. A whoosh of air came by and she felt another pair of hands tug at her. She groaned as someone pulled her roughly from Stefan's hold. She tried to open her eyes, and they finally opened a little. She saw blue eyes and she held out her hand slowly to his had told her all about Katherine on the way to school and she felt sorry for Damon, she really did. "I'm sorry," she whispered as he humanly ran away from the shocked Elena and the worried Stefan.

Damon on looked down at the limp girl in his arms. Now that he had seen her like that, in the fire and alone, he felt a connection to her. It was very small and very weak, but he still felt her loneliness and could only compare it to his own. But a plan was a plan, and he needed her to trust him enough until it would both be a surprise for her and Stefan. "For what?" He asked softly to his own dismay. He was Damon Salvatore,a vampire without humanity, and he was going to both ruin Stefan and save Katherine.

He he used his vampire speed now, away from the eyes of Elena and the other anxious teenagers. They were already in the boarding house, going up the stairs. Lux still hadon't said anything, causing him to believe that she had fallen asleep. He lay her in his bed, and tucked her in. _Why am I doing this? What does she matter? _

And as he sat there, waiting for his dear brother to check in on him and then Elena, he began to read aloud the book he'd found in Lux's purse, starting at a random page. "The girl smiled again. Colin wasn't thinking about anything but himself and K-19 and the piece of his gut he'd misplaced- but there was no denying her smile. That smile could end wars and cure cancer." He smiled ruefully at the book and began to read more, starting at the first page this time. He heard a gurgling laugh come from Lux's blistered red lips. He sharply looked up.

"I'm sorry about Katherine. Nobody should have to ever lose someone they love," she laughed bitterly before adding, "Because 'you can love someone, but you'll never be able to love someone as much as you can miss them.'" Lux looked closer at who was in front of her with her swollen eyes, and cleared her scratched throat. She looked around, frightened that she was somewhere she'd never been before. Her over due panic attack kicked in again, and her breathing hurried. She had said that she was sorry for his loss, and she was, but she didn't want to be alone with him. Stefan had told her what he does, what his lifestyle was, and she couldn't handle the thought that he was the reason why so many people were dead. She felt her throat constrict, he'd lost everyone too, and felt a sort of half hatred roll of her in waves.

He absentmindedly leaned forward, not realising he was petting her hair and shushing her to sleep until her breathing had gone to a steady rate, and during those few moments of before sleep Lux tried to imagine Damon as Stefan and successfully fell asleep snuggled unto the pillows. By then he could already feel humanity fighting its way to the surface. He couldn't let it. He needed to get rid of her soon, or else he might do something stupid like start to care.

He shivered. What a horrible thought.

* * *

**A/N: Okay so hope you liked this, please review/favorite/follow to your heart's content. Thanks so much to everyone that has reviewed and all that stuff. Lurve ya. c:**

TTFN

X


End file.
